Kiesza Surprises All on the Full Moon

Courtesy of villagevoice.com

The Full Moon Fest is only four years young, but already pulling weight in NYC one of the more enjoyable, laid back music festivals of the summer. Last night, dozens of visitors flocked to Governor’s Island, seeking to party all night under the musical care of artists like Penguin Prison, Delorean, The Knocks, The Aston Shuffle, Son Lux, Le Youth, Chela, JDH and Dave P, Wave Racer, and surprise guest of the night- Kiesza. Blissed-out beach bros wandered around shirtless, countless couples slow-danced to Aston Shuffle jams, and nearly everyone on the island went wild for the night during acts like Wave Racer and Le Youth. FDRMX joined in for the moonlit shenanigans last night. Here are some the highlights.

Wave Racer dove into phenomenal set around 9:00 PM, fueling the audience with neon chords and synthesizers. His music could find a home in a 90s gaming system. It’s a kaleidescope of pure sunshine, tropical drums, synths, vocoders, and experimental beats. It’s 100 levels past ‘upbeat’ and it gets the audience bouncing like no other. The light neon visual display behind Wave Racer was a near-perfect illustration of what his music sounds like: a continuous, color-changing video-game kaleidoscope of neon palm trees and shape-shifting dolphins. It’s hard to describe, but listen to his bouncy remix of “Ryan Must Be Destroyed” and you’ll have an idea of what visuals to expect. The australian DJ also played some strange experimental “PC music” by much-hyped Sophie, including this track “Lemonade.” We think VICE magazine describes it best when they say the song has the effect of “someone pouring pop-rocks into your ears.”

Courtesy of thatnewjam.com

Special guest Kiesza was stunning surprise for beach-goers. Best known for her critically-acclaimed, 80s inspired, dance video for “Hideaway,” she’s currently rocketing to fame in the UK for her infectious mix of 1990s house and electro-pop dancing. Following the video for “Hideway” (which was filmed here in New York, as Kiesza pointed out last night), the single topped the UK Singles Chart, selling more than 136,000 copies in its first week, and becoming the third-fastest selling single of 2014 in the UK. Her dance moves are just as well-rehearsed and vogue-house on stage as they are in the music video, and Kiesza soon had the audience singing to the sticky hook “ooh, aah” hook along with her.

Courtesy of villagevoice.com

After Kiesza’s perfomance, Delorean wrapped up the event as DJ. It felt like things were winding down at this point, and he ended up sounding more like a DJ than some of the more innovative acts before, like Son Lux or Penguin Prison. He played old trip-inducing dance songs from the 90s and 2000s like “Window-Licker” by Aphex Twin. Overall the festival was satisfying. The weather was balmy and cool, and we saw some of the year’s most progressive artists perform, all while celebrating the last full moon of summer by dancing until midnight. If you want more pictures from last night, you can browse a photo gallery of the Full Moon Fest here.